In 2002, having just been elected to the first Global Council of the United Religions Initiative, I attended the URI’s first Global Summit in Rio de Janeiro. My intention is to help people learn that they do not need to be afraid of not having the right answers, but rather discover that the questions they ask and the experiences they have will help further their understanding of who they are, what they believe, and who their life’s mission is calling them to be. I challenge you to create hope in your own community, experiencing it with an open mind and an open heart so that you can soak up the rich diversity of thought, personal background, and perspective that it has to offer. URI brings hope so that no one has to relive my story ever again! URI brings hope to millions of refugees seeking to live another day. URI brings hope to bridge the gap we currently face with religious and cultural differences. URI brings hope to millions of people who have a special space in their hearts for social justice and mobilizes them to take action in their local communities. Why did I join the movement? My answer can be phrased in one word: hope. URI is global, decentralized grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and working together for the good of their communities and the world. I was six years old.Ī philosopher centuries ago said your vocation comes where “your talents and the needs of the world cross.” That happened to me when I was introduced to United Religions Initiative. Every morning I would wake up to find homes destroyed and innocent bodies lying in the streets. My family’s home was close enough to the blast area that every night we slept in our basement, praying to God that we would live to see another day. I still have nightmares of what I saw early in life. Iraq has suffered from years of structural uncertainty, conflict, and instability under a government incapable of enforcing the rule of law and providing a minimum of security.Īs a Roman Catholic, I was caught in the crossfire of two different battles: one for a Kurdish autonomous country and one for a religious cleansing of Iraq by Islamic terrorist groups.
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I born during the first Gulf War, which was a time of major religious persecution. I immigrated from Baghdad, Iraq to the United States fleeing a war-torn country that faced numerous challenges. It took years of participatory crafting to create the document so no one can say ‘our voices are absent from the Charter.’ Having been a part of URI from my youth helped me to enjoy its existence and later portray its Charter as a living document in the day-to-day lives of people in Africa working at the grassroots to build peace. Guided by the Charter that was created by people from around the world, both young and old, women and men and all people from different social, political and economic backgrounds, URI is inclusive of people from all backgrounds and beliefs. This notion is the basis on which URI operates. Instead of working in the typical hierarchical fashion, it takes seriously the voices of its members. URI is not your conventional organization.
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URI encourages people to get to know one another by using appreciative inquiry and acknowledging our unity in diversity – considering others as human beings first and their unique identities second. URI is an organization but also goes further in building deep individual relationships that help people organically grow into loving others both far and near. To be a part of United Religions Initiative (URI) is to realize that other people on earth are equally important in their diversity.